


the things only He sees.

by arurun



Category: One Piece
Genre: Akuma no Mi | Devil Fruit, And Gomu is evil Mastermind TM, Crack, Devil Fruits Personified, Gen, Supernatural Elements, Usopp is a tired Babysitter, Usopp-centric (One Piece)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-01
Updated: 2020-04-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:02:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23427442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arurun/pseuds/arurun
Summary: Usopp can see spirits. Not ghosts, not really. What he can see is that thing floating around Luffy shoulders, calling himself the Gomu-Gomu no Mi.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 208
Collections: Fics That Make Me Feel Good, Mugiwara_no_Pirates





	1. spirits unseen.

People call Usopp a coward, but really, really, and _really_ , it’s not unfounded.

He’s always been a sensitive child. Maybe it had something to do with his mom spoiling him when he was younger, or from the fact he was a pampered boy in the weakest sea with too-big dreams.

Anyways.

“What’re you doing, Usopp?” Zoro asks, and Usopp gives the most undignified squawk the swordsman has ever heard. Usopp flips around, arms poised to battle, and Zoro raises an eyebrow. “Interesting reaction,” Zoro muses, “so what’s with you?”

Day two on the Merry, and Usopp is still fidgety as hell.

“Uh,” Usopp swallows then straightens. He leans over and whispers, very unsubtle. His gaze is a very sharp side glance at Luffy, who’s lounging at Merry’s figurehead.

“Look Zoro, serious-- do you see anyone there? Like, on the deck?”

Zoro stares.

“Yeah, Luffy. Why?”

“No, no, not him, there’s a kid,” Usopp insists, throwing his hands down absolutely frustrated, “he’s shorter than Luffy, he’s wearing a pierrot costume in this _godforsaken heat_ , and--” He points, turns-- then shrieks, flinching away.

He ducks behind Zoro, using the very confused green-haired as a shield.

Despite Zoro’s increasingly incredulous looks, Usopp panics. “He saw me! Oh no. He’s smiling at me. He’s going to kill me in my sleep and I just KNOW it! Look, he’s filing his nails with a dagger of all things, that brat’s an absolute psychopath!”

After five seconds of Usopp’s incoherent babble, Zoro decides to just walk away.

Usopp starts crying, but that’s nothing new.

-

-

**_“You may refer to me as Gomu,”_** the child speaks with the exuberant confidence of a child that brought the coolest thing to show-and-tell.

His arms are folded. His little hat is feathered and fancy, there are a myriad of carnival shapes on his skin, like tattoos. He’s like a clown in a circus, minus the makeup and much more child assistant of the troupe.

The child-- Gomu-- scoffs at Usopp.

 ** _“It’s been centuries since anyone could see us,”_** he muses, a mocking scoff as his eyes narrow just slightly, **_“you’re very unique, human.”_**

It sounds like a compliment, so why did it feel like an insult?

And if there’s anything Usopp knows, it’s that Gomu is _nothing_ like this owner. They’re both prideful, they’re both headstrong-- but Gomu is all that and he actually has brains to think. Which makes him some kind of overpowered evil mastermind if he tried.

Never has Usopp felt more relieved that Luffy was an idiot.

-

**_“Usopp! Get me that apple up there!”_ **

Usopp sighs. Automatically picking up a pebble that looked about the right size, he strapped it into his slingshot and-- aim, release.

Gomu canters over very cheerfully, arm stretching out beyond possible limits, catching the apple in both hands.

“Try not to bother me too much, I’m trying to hunt some actual meat here,” Usopp whispers at him, “Sanji’ll get angry if I take too long, you know right?”

 ** _“But I love apples,”_** Gomu says, like that’s a reasonable excuse or something. **_“And you suck, but your aim is awesome, so you can get apples for me.”_**

Usopp internally debates the pros and cons of strangling the humanoid form of his Captain’s Devil Fruit.

-

“So you’re weak to the sea. What happens when Luffy falls into the sea or gets stuck in sea-stone chains like last time?”

Speaking to Gomu over his night watch becomes quite a routine for them. Usopp hangs out at the crow’s nest, and Gomu plays tightrope walker on the yards of the mast.

 ** _“Hm? Nothing happens to me. But if Luffy dies, I guess I’ll go back to my fruit and hide somewhere,”_** he says, spinning around with all the elegance of a ballerina (Usopp probably shouldn’t say that out loud) and he sets a dainty hand at his chest, smirking.

**_“I’m lending my powers to him, but every power has its limits. I am not human. Thus I am not bound by human limits.”_ **

That… made sense. Doesn’t that mean these fruit spirits, if they weren’t intangible objects, were literally invincible? They have no flaws (except their general bratty attitudes) and no loopholes. They have magical abilities for no known reason, and they have no boundaries except their ethical and moral values.

(Then a spirit who’s messed up in the head… is probably the most fearsome enemy they’d ever have to face.)

“Then what if you guys fall into the sea?” Usopp asks.

At that, Gomu merely sniggers like a devil. ** _“Well, wouldn’t you want to know?”_**

And then he danced away, leaving Usopp slightly scared for very indiscernible reasons.

-

When the girl known as Miss All-Sunday invades their ship, Usopp’s eyes landed first on the _other_ girl beside her, mainly because no one else is looking.

Because if you ask him which attracted more attention-- a lady in a long white coat, or a purple child dressed head to toe like a geisha-- yeah, the latter is a lot weirder. In fact, he hears Gomu screech from the figurehead, pointing accusingly at the girl who scowls back.

 ** _“Hana! Who said you could come here? Go away!”_** and this isn’t the first time Usopp hears Gomu act childish. It’s the first time he actually sounds honestly imposed on.

The little girl, she’s very purple, from her hair to the elegant fan in her hands, parted before her face. Even behind the cover, Usopp can tell she’s smirking at the smaller child.

 ** _“Oh, if it isn’t dear little Gomu, of all people. How utterly awful it is to see you again,”_** she smiled, sarcasm flowing out like honeyed drool. **_“You little hat is as childish as ever.”_**

 ** _“Shut up, you whore!”_** Gomu shouts, and Usopp feels his heart in his mouth.

 ** _“Whore--?! mind your manners, child!”_** and Hana snaps, slapping her fan shut, ** _“I’ll have you know I’m a million times more dignified than you could ever hope to be!”_**

_God, they’re both literal kids._

Usopp’s sure he’s imagining it, but there are sparks flying. For the lord almighty’s sake, whatever the hell the history is, they definitely hate each other’s guts.

Everyone’s focused on Miss All-Sunday and Luffy (something about an Eternal Pose?) but Usopp is just looking very frantically around the two children on board.

He’s trying very hard to not seem too obvious with where he’s glancing. He’s had enough of those ‘are you crazy, delusional, or seasick?’ looks from everyone, thank you.

Oops, everyone’s still talking.

-

Hito has a good head on his shoulders, and Usopp nearly cries because, thank god, there is still sanity in this world, bless.

Hito stares at him, very taken aback by his tears of gratitude.

Perhaps because Hito is meant to represent humankind, he’s as normal as a person can get. Brown hair, brown eyes, wearing a simple button-up and trousers. He’s nothing special, and looks almost at home amongst the actual humans.

He’s the oldest-looking of all the fruit spirits Usopp has seen thus far. A majority of them look like children barely twelve, including Gomu, Hana, and the few Baroque Works agents-- but Hito looks their age.

In fact, he’s almost Sanji’s height. They could trade clothes.

Usopp nearly calls out to him in front of everyone before he realizes that no, normal humans do not wear only a thin button-up in this deadly winter, much less outdoors on the tallest building in the snowstorm.

So, as proven by all the crazy dress-up thus far, these fruit spirits are unaffected by weather conditions. Good to know.

“Nice to meet you…” Usopp tries to greet him, because he kind of feels like that’s how you should greet a new, very-invisible-to-everyone-but-yourself crewmate.

Hito just nods.

Usopp doesn’t know how or why, but Hito is just like that. He never talks, and yet, Gomu can hold perfectly fluent conversations with him, though only one side is talking.

He’s unsociable, lazy, and doesn’t stand out, but Hito cuffs Gomu on the head when the kid plays around too rambunctiously, and that’s enough to earn Usopp’s respect.

-

Usopp really finds Gomu very hard to handle, but nothing could’ve prepared him for the disaster that was Mane.

Bon Clay makes a quick and very horrifying visit to their ship, and Mane-- a little blonde girl that’s half Gomu’s height and dressed all light and tribal, with the feather in her hair and red marks on her skin-- soars across the deck and lands right on the boy.

Gomu shrieks bloody murder.

**_“No! Get her off me! Get her off!!”_ **

Hito just calmly watches the twosome run circles, the smallest boy screeching in some awakened trauma of some sort. Usopp doesn’t know what to do with this situation, and he doesn’t think Hito will give him an explanation, so he just stares too.

**_“Gomu! Gomu! GOoommmmuuu!!”_ **

**_“No! Shut up! Stop talking! Go back to your owner! LEAVE!”_ **

Gomu looks so offended at the girl’s entire presence, and Mane loved annoying the living shit out of him. It’s the best thing Usopp has ever seen, seriously.

But for the sake of the world, his eardrums, and his sleep schedule, he hopes they never meet again.

-

There are a lot of Devil Fruits around after they enter the Grand Line, but he sticks to very little of them long enough to actually see their forms.

He’s seen Gomu use his arm as an extending claw to reach an apple on a tree (and yet he prefers to ask Usopp instead?) and he’s seen Hana sprout too many hands, so evidently, they share the abilities they bestow upon their users.

But the forms themselves are just temporal, like ghosts. They can’t particularly affect the structure of physical things unless they want to. Which means that even a spirit that’s burning won’t set the ship on fire if she decides to be nice.

 ** _“No! Usopp is mine!”_** Gomu is hugging him, because he can actually latch on to Usopp despite phasing through every other human.

Mera, a little girl with long scarlet hair, whines back, ** _“that’s not fair!”_** she complains, all puffy like two children fighting over who’s mommy’s favourite, ** _“learn to share! I’m sharing my Ace with your dumb Luffy, so share your Usopp with me!”_**

 ** _“It doesn’t work that way!”_** Gomu insists, **_“and I don’t want either of those humans, I just want Usopp! Luffy can go drown, I could care less!”_**

“No, I would seriously mind if that happens,” Usopp deadpans. He goes ignored, of course. The two are still fighting over him. He doesn’t understand why.

Seriously, with how loud these kids can scream, he’s surprised he’s not deaf yet.

-

Usopp takes the night watch, and he’s exhausted in many different ways.

“You’re Usopp, right? The liar guy?” Ace talks to him, because he can’t sleep, Usopp isn’t supposed to sleep, and they have nothing better to do until daybreak.

Usopp is trying not to look at Mera and Hito, because the girl has figured out how to draw fiery shapes in the wooden deck and Hito looks minutes away from chucking her into the sea. He wonders if fruit spirits can drown.

“I prefer being called the Captain,” Usopp huffs, “or, as a compromise, the sharpshooter--” then he sighs, “but I guess Luffy’s gonna keep calling me whatever he wants no matter what I say, so…”

Ace laughs good-naturedly. “Typical Luffy.”

Gomu jets himself, rocket-styled, into Mera. They snowball around, and Hito chases after them as Mera sets them both on fire and starts rolling away. Usopp stifles a laugh at that. They may have fought in the morning, but they sure got along in their own way, huh?

“Hey,” Ace suddenly calls him, leaning his chin in his palm and looking at Usopp considerably-- “you know, you're always looking in directions where there’s nothing.”

Usopp stiffens.

“Someone once told me that some people are nervous about looking people in the eyes-- but you’re not looking away because of that,” Ace mutters, “I know that look. A good friend of mine often looked at me and Luffy like that, too...”

Usopp shuffles away, managing an awkward chuckle as he turns away and rubs the back of his head.

“You sure notice some strange things, Ace! I’ve got a nervous tick, so I’ve probably been unconsciously acting weird,” he sighs, “no one really mentions it to me, so thanks for telling me! Anyways, it’s about time for Sanji to wake up for breakfast, so I’ll go back and catch some Zs while I can. See ya!”

And he speed-walks out of there, very very briskly.

“Hey, Usopp!” Ace calls after him, and Usopp freezes, dripping with cold sweat. But Ace is smiling warmly. “Whatever you’re watching over so lovingly, I hope they love you back!”

God, Ace is so _weird!!_

-

Ace and Smoker were a pair of tough wranglers, but their spirits were love at first sight.

It’s during the major ‘Ace dramatically stops Smoker from chasing after them’ situation, when Usopp sees Mera literally blast herself onto a lady beside the Marine.

The lady in question literally explodes into smoke to dodge, then rematerialised, lighting up a cigarette while she returns. She dressed in very flashy leather, with piercings, rings, lots of metal, and dark makeup. Her tomboy cut just makes her a very impressive-looking punk. If this wasn’t a desert.

 ** _“Moku-nee! I missed you so much!”_** Mera squeals, and when she latches onto Moku this time, the lady doesn’t resist.

Gomu blanches, **_“god, why.”_**

“They’re sisters?” Usopp whispers the question to him, and Gomu nods, looking pale.

 ** _“Moku-nee, Gomu’s been a meanie to me! He found an interesting human and he won’t share! He’s stingy!”_** Mera whines, and Usopp is vaguely reminded of this tattletale trophy Tamanegi has on his shelf.

Moku stares at Gomu, and Gomu looks as pale as a child caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

 ** _“He’s mine! You have Ace!”_** Gomu says back with all the ferocity of a wet cat, and are those tears in his eyes?

Mera makes a face at Gomu, and Moku sighs. She gives Usopp a sympathetic look and somehow Usopp feels a big sense of camaraderie. Even Hito sighs at them.

**_“You’re so unfair! Next time I’ll bring my own big brother and you’ll absolutely get it, Mera!”_ **

**_“What’s Mochi gonna do, feed everyone?!”_ **

**_“You suck, Mera!”_ **

**_“No, you!”_ **

****

-

Later, when they’re stuck in a cage together and Moku is within talking vicinity of Gomu without Mera around, Gomu just looks so uncomfortable.

 **“So,”** Moku speaks, and she’s very nice. Kind of like a mom, or a very mature big sister. Kind of like how Usopp imagines Hito will speak if he does. ** _“How has life been treating you, Gomu-chan?”_**

 ** _“I- I’m fine, Moku-nee,”_** and Usopp swirls, not expecting Gomu to use that honorific too, **_“I couldn’t greet you back in Loguetown, but I guess you can see my user’s pretty idiotic-- honestly I don’t know what to do with him…”_**

As Gomu keeps talking, Moku keeps listening. Gomu gets more comfortable, and eventually starts ranting to her, but Moku doesn’t complain.

So Usopp listens, and somewhere in the long story, he hears bits of Luffy's own history, and he smiles.

Mera and Gomu don’t know how to share, but Moku certainly does.

And when they part ways later, Moku keeps a firm eye on Usopp. There are no words exchanged, because Usopp is scared shitless (hell, she is tall. She’s taller than him, but not more than Sanji, but still tall.)

Usopp gets a pat on the head, and Moku walks away.

Usopp isn’t sure how to feel about it, but he’s pretty sure he just got adopted.

-

Everything’s a disaster and Usopp is exhausted.

Like, forget the bandages and all the wounds and all that nonsense. They finally won, scraped in a victory of some sort-- so what’s this?

He stares at his knees, trying not to move.

There’s a white-haired boy in the room. He looks about as tall as Hito, but he’s dressed in Arabastian clothes, kinda like Mane. And like Mane, he’s smiling and seems overall friendly. But he’s staring right at Usopp, and Usopp is trying very hard to seem like he doesn’t know it.

_What in nine hells is Crocodile’s fruit spirit doing here?!_

**_“Suna, Suna! Your user was a Warlord, right? How is it like over there? I heard Kage is over there,”_** Gomu is unexpectedly enthusiastic, trying to pry his attention like a baby. The boy is lounging over Suna’s knee like a child to his favourite uncle.

 ** _“It’s quite nice,”_** Suna says, and they settle down on the empty bed, the older patting the younger on the head, **_“Mero and Ito get along well, but Nikyu tends to prefer being on their own. You know how they are. Kage doesn’t really like it when we meet up, because Pika is with one of the admirals.”_**

That’s a lot of new names. Usopp tries to tune them out-- but wait, do so many of the Warlords have fruits? They’ve already seen Mihawk and that guy was crazy strong _without_ a fruit.

Oh god, Usopp wants to cry. He dearly hopes Luffy doesn’t hear any of this. He’ll definitely say dumb stuff, like he wants to fight them or something.

 ** _“I’ve heard of the admirals,”_** Gomu says, lifting himself up all enthused, **_“of all things, they put Hie and Magu together? Are the humans suicidal? Do they want Spirit War V??”_**

Usopp isn’t going to chase it. He’s not going to ask what that is. He isn’t. He isn’t. He isn’t--

“You spirits have _wars_?” he blurts.

He dies inside a little when the two turn to him synchronously, and Suna just smiles with the sort of glee he’d expect from Miss All-Sunday. Maybe he should be _her_ spirit.

Usopp gives a wary look at Luffy’s sleeping form and Sanji snoring two beds over, and inches just a little closer to the fruit spirits just as Suna begins to tell him the history of the fruits.

 ** _“The first to come were the Zoans,”_** Suna begins.

The story goes like this. The ancient animals came first. Animals as they were, they fought over their land. Their users joined in, unaware of the background battle, and that’s what separated the seas into what they are now.

Then came the other devil fruits, and they had another war to classify themselves as a species of their own. The final compromise was three-- Zoan, Paramecia, and Logia.

And the next war was similar. They decided they didn’t like being called something so general, and after a century or so of launching each other into the sun, they decided on subtypes under their general classification.

“You’re telling me there are Zoans of _Mythical_ creatures,” Usopp repeats just to see how fearsome it sounds on his tongue, and he’s horrified.

 ** _“Phoenix practically raised Mera, and by extension, Moku. He’s nice.”_** Suna shrugs, and Usopp tries not to imagine whatever in the world is capable of reeling in that nutcase of a tiny girl.

**_“There’s also your Hito’s cousin, Buddha-- we call him Hitobu-jii by the way, he’s like a grandfather to all of us. Even Bara was really fond of him.”_ **

Usopp isn’t too sure what to focus on. The fact that there’s a Buddha fruit, the fact that the fruits have familial connections to each other, or the fact that Buggy’s fruit is considered a black sheep even amongst fellow fruits.

Usopp hasn’t really met the guy, actually. Just seen him from afar.

He can gather that it’s a boy (or girl? He wasn’t sure) with short and ragged hair, dressed in loose clothing with large, flapping sleeves that danced as they jumped.

What made it obvious that they weren’t human, was that their body was sectioned at every joint, strange dark shadows clear against pale skin. And when their body separated, they came around like parts of a mannequin, slotting in with light clunks like jiggly porcelain.

He hopes Bara hasn’t seen him clearly, because that’s one spirit he never wants to meet. Like, ever.

-

Usopp is nursing a very bad headache. Chopper gives him aspirin, and sends him off with warnings of bedrest and no strenuous activity, even giving warnings to the noisy crowd to let him rest quietly for today.

Usopp doesn’t have the heart (or energy) to tell him that the headaches come in the form of two children squabbling like butthurt morons on deck.

 ** _“Get out!”_** Gomu screams for not the first time at all, ** _“are you insane or just daft? I don’t want you! No one wants you here!”_**

Hana huffs, ** _“may if I remind you that it is your user that permitted my sweetheart little Robin to stay? Your opinion is invalid here.”_**

He had to spend his entire night watch trying to make sure they didn’t kill each other. A part of him doesn't know if that’s possible and the more logical part of him argues that he probably shouldn’t stick around long enough to try and find out.

Usopp gives Hito a longsuffering look, and Hito honestly looks exhausted too. Hito then makes his way to the two idiots, and Usopp leaves to the cabin so he can finally get some shut-eye.

“If they wanna kill each other I hope they do it out of the deck,” he mutters to himself. “Why can’t they just get along like it was with Mera?”

“Who’s Mera?”

Usopp bolts up so quickly, he hits his head against the ceiling. In his agony, he rolls off his hammock and, with a squawk, lands on the wooden flooring. He’s pretty sure he broke a tooth or something.

Sanji is there, on his hammock, smoking like he’s been there this whole time The window is open, but under the deck as they are, very little light filters in.

“You do that a lot,” Sanji says, “talking to yourself.”

Usopp fumbles like he’d been caught doing something embarrassing, scooting upwards and shifting away like he’s trying to escape.

“Really, I do? Man, I must've picked that up on Syrup, it’s a hard habit to break, you know?” he rambles. Suddenly sleeping off his headache doesn’t seem pleasant anymore, so he walks towards the stairs.

Sanji is there first, depositing himself right at the end of the ladder. His arms are crossed, his gaze is sharp, and his entire body language is not in a joking mood.

“You’ve been doing it since I’ve joined, as far as I know. Staring at random corners like you’re watching some interesting, half-listening to Nami and making her repeat things-- you do that to me too actually. Well, whatever it is, it’s distracting you and for some reason, no one’s addressed it.”

Usopp kind of wants to die now.

“You’re imagining things,” Usopp sighs, “I have a hard time focusing on things, so sometimes, things you guys say slip my mind before you’re done. I’m sorry about that, I’ll try and--”

“Don’t,” Sanji slams his hand against the ladder, “bullshit your way out of this. Or I’ll tell Chopper what’s _really_ giving you that insomnia and you’re not going to hear the end of it.”

Usopp flinches, and Sanji actually looks regretful for half a second.

“You talk to yourself _too_ weirdly,” Sanji continues, “like that time in Alabasta. I didn’t see you reading and you’re an Eastern-- there’s no reason you’d be asking yourself about Devil Fruits at that time, much less learning anything from self-musings.”

Usopp cringes, “you were awake?”

Sanji raises an eyebrow, “I’ve been sleeping with an eye open since I was seven. Now don’t change the subject.”

Usopp looks around. There’s no escape, not that he’d even dare when Sanji uses that tone. There’s no other possible excuse either, he’s got a headache and he’s really not in the mood to come up with something, and Sanji isn't’ Luffy so obviously he won’t fall for it.

He groans.

Then Usopp sits down. “Just telling you firsthand,” he starts, “if you don’t believe me, I’m going to pretend I never said anything and go to sleep.”

And he starts from the beginning.

-

When Usopp finally stops to look at Sanji, Sanji’s smoke is in his hands, because his jaw is too permanently dropped for him to focus on the nicotine right now.

“So what you’re telling me is that the fruits are apparently sentient,” Sanji says, “and as far as you know, only you can see them?”

Usopp nods, leaning back.

“Well,” Sanji finally takes a drag of his cig, “sounds like bullshit to me-- hey, hey, listen to me first,” he moves apprehensively when Usopp turns and rolls himself under his covers, prepared to sleep, “I’m not saying I don’t believe you.”

Usopp raises an eyebrow at him, “you’re telling me you believe me?”

Sanji shrugs. “You suck at lying, so no way that long-ass story of yours was a lie.” Usopp doesn’t know if he should feel offended or honoured, “but I’m just speaking from experience. You can’t fake your shitty insomnia and I’m tired of you wasting your food cause you’ve got no appetite.”

Usopp laughs sheepishly, “it’s fine cause Luffy can finish it for me…” he stops when Sanji glares, “I’m sorry. I’ll eat my own portions from now on.”

Sanji huffs, satisfied by the compliance.

“Curious though, you mentioned Gomu-gomu-- I mean, Gomu, likes apples,” Sanji points with his cigarette, “they’re immaterial, right? Do they need to eat?”

Silence answers him.

Then, **_“no we don’t but I like to!”_**

And Usopp _shrieks_ , arms flailing wildly at the pierrot-dressed child sticking his head upside down, phasing right through the ceiling to smile like a little shit at Usopp’s reaction.

Sanji stares, brows raised.

Usopp throws a pillow at the brat, but it phases harmlessly through. “Stop doing that!” he yells anyways, “what if someone was here?! Chopper’s gonna think I’m insane!”

**_“But you are insane, you keep talking to me.”_ **

“What was that you little punk?!”

Usopp stops.

Sanji is still staring.

Usopp turns around to go to sleep, but Sanji’s already standing up, “no no no, you ain’t running. Can’t see whoever, but introduce us you little shit. That was hilarious.”

Usopp wants to cry.

Gomu spins, and lands with a light tap on the ground. Usopp can see the moment sanji hears it and shoots his gaze down to where Gomu’s feet apparently are-- but nothing. No shadow, no figure, just the sound that disappeared as quickly as he came.

“He can touch things if he wants to, but otherwise he phases right through like a ghost,” Usopp explains, “he does that to you guys a lot.”

**_“Does it really matter? Not like you guys move out of my way when I need you to.”_ **

“It’s basic manners. Even Hito and Hana do it.”

**_“Hito is weird and Hana is weirder.”_ **

“You’re the weirdest, not just because your user is Luffy.”

**_“I’m not weird!”_ **

“Yes, and Luffy hates meat.”

Usopp ignores the continuing onslaught of creative insults in favour of turning to Sanji. “I’d draw you a picture later. This is Gomu, he’s-- cut it out already!” he interrupts himself to bark at the kid that’s pinching his cheek out. Gomu lets go, and Usopp rubs the tender skin with a sigh. “And Gomu, that’s Sanji. Say hi.”

 ** _“Hah,”_** Gomu folds his arms, standing proudly, chest pushed forward as he huffs a show of power, ** _“I see you are submitting to become my new servant! I will gladly take you under my wing!”_**

Sanji slams his foot onto the ground. It’s not enough to leave a hole in the Merry, but it definitely leaves a dent. Gomu stands posture stiff expressions stunned.

.”I have a feeling he just said something _very_ funny,” Sanji explains, taking the cancer stick from his lips and breathing out a cloud (very coincidentally or not) right at Gomu’s face.

 ** _“I’m sorry.”_** Gomu immediately bows. Then he runs to Usopp and curls up like a hurt baby fox, trembling and traumatised.

Usopp puts a sceptical eye on Sanji, “just to be clear-- you _really_ can’t hear him, right?”

“Huh? Of course I can’t,” Sanji says.

Gomu’s face is buried tearfully in Usopp’s stomach, and Usopp doesn’t even know where to begin with his retort here.

-

_“I must say, I have to hope you were a little more pleasant to my eyes, but you will do,”_ Hana tells him one mid-morning. It’s their first one-to-one conversation.

Gomu had eventually given up on driving her away, and now their relationship had dwelled down into something that looked like an awkward pair of old enemies that didn’t know what to do with their relationship after teaming up against another bigger, mutual enemy.

Yeah, sounds like a pain.

Hana is, just like the many few times he’s seen her, very beautiful. Adorable, even. Now don’t get him wrong, he’s allowed to think a girl is beautiful even if she looks like a kid. He’s not thinking of it like that at all, he wouldn’t even joke of it.

 ** _“I request for you to help me with my hair, if you will,”_** she says, and Usopp does a double take. He looks at her hair, which is loose in contrast to her usual fancy bun, and back to her who’s looking at him with eyes peeking over her fan.

She smells like citrus and a fresh bath. In fact, her hair is still dripping, the water a trail from the shower room that Usopp has just noticed. (Jesus who’s going to clean that up? Me?)

And _oh, so that’s who has been using Nami’s shower gel._ Mystery solved, it’s not Chopper after all. Sorry buddy.

“Me?” he asks.

 ** _“Well, who else is there?”_** Hana says, huffing. Her kimono draping off her shoulders, she twisted her head haughtily.

**_“Suna was good at this, but Hito is awful. Gomu has enlightened me on the fact that you are good with your hands and have had prior experience with your girlfriend. I;ve deemed you trustworthy enough at least for now.”_ **

Usopp blushes at that last part. “I can’t guarantee anything,” he says, “I’m more of a crafts and machines kinda guy.”

“Are you going to help me or not?” Hana asks again, and Usopp sighs.

He borrows the girls’ hairdryer (they snicker at him for being a sissy but he’s going to live with that shame if it meant Hana would stop dripping water over the deck) and they spend a while every two days in the dining room blowing her hair dry, smoothing out the knotted locks, and then finally, putting it up.

Because even though they don’t get dirty, some spirits like to take showers.

Usopp can’t do that amazing bun yet (Suna must’ve been incredible if he could do that for her all the time) but Hana is adorably content with whatever Usopp can come up with, even if it was simple or didn’t fit her kimono.

The day Usopp learned how to tie a dutch braid, Hana was _ecstatic_.

Rubbing out the dark circles and yawning from his all-nighter of study and practice for it, Usopp fondly wonders if this is what it feels like to have a little sister.

-

They’ve just come down from Sky Island. Enel’s fruit spirit, Goro, was a very nice kid that got along with Gomu just about as well as Sanji did with Zoro. Horribly.

Before Usopp could be worried about Luffy and Enel’s showdown, he was worried about Gomu killing Goro. It was a wild ride, now Usopp just wants to forget everything and pretend that ordeal never happened. Yikes.

“So, Mister Sharpshooter,” Robin asks him one day in the library when they’re sorting out the notebooks and the travelogues, “does Hana treat you well?”

And Usopp sputters, kicks the shelf, drops the books, and then an encyclopedia falls on his head. 

Robin simply smiles. She’s evil.

“Yeah,” Usopp says, “right. But how…?”

“Mister Cook isn’t exactly subtle when he serves an extra portion for our invisible guests,” Robin says, extending a disembodied hand out of the wall and showing how one of them was an ear and an eye, “I must apologize for eavesdropping, but you were rather loud that night on your night watch. I was simply curious.”

Usopp flushes bright red. He wonders how many people already suspect he’s going crazy, if that was the case. They might not have great eavesdropping skills like Robin, but some of them certainly know how to be subtle.

So Robin is the second one Usopp tells the story to.

Robin takes it in stride. In fact, she even suggests really interesting (and in some parts, ominous) observations, and the spirits listening in tend to try it out themselves. ( ** _“Hey Usopp! I don’t bleed when I’m stabbed!”_** , “WHY ARE YOU STABBING YOURSELF”)

The spirits have their own ways of telling humans that they are in the room. Knocking on the shelves, or flipping the page of a book before Robin finishes, because they’re reading too and they’re interested in what comes next.

Sanji cooks enough meals for three more (and enough tea for one more invisible mademoiselle, of course), and isn’t against making special requests for Hito who’s never had a carbonated drink in his life.

Robin reads to them, and though Robin can’t hear them, Gomu and Hana often fight over theories above her shoulder. It’s an endearing sight, but Usopp wonders if Robin would pinch them if she could hear them, for being so noisy.

Usopp sighs.

His life is really colourful in strange ways, but weirdly enough, he’s used to it now.


	2. vision unshared.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Water Seven Saga.
> 
> Usopp realizes his sight is a lot less conventional than he thinks. In other news, the CP9 have very cute spirits.

All the fruits generally have a family-like relationship, but at the same time, they could care less about each other when it counted. They don’t care about having to fight each other, and delight in destroying the misbehaving ones.

**_“Thinner than water, thicker than blood,”_ ** Gomu tells him, and Usopp has to spend a few nights pondering upon that statement.

-

“So Logias are generally adults, and Paramecias are generally children.”

When Usopp lays out that observation, Gomu makes offended noises. 

Usopp ignores him in favour of Hana’s response.

**_“That is true for most of us, but there are exceptions. Mera is in the form of a human child, is she not?”_ ** Hana giggles, **_“and although Hito is an adult, his feline cousins are all children as well. It is more a matter of maturity than anything. Aside from the Zoans. The Zoans like child forms.”_ **

Usopp pauses.

“So are you tiny because you’re immature or-- OW!” Usopp shoots away when Hana smacks him with her fan. “Alright, I’m sorry!”

-

So in hindsight, it’s not just a matter of maturity. 

Hito is a few centuries older than the others, and fruits like Bara are teenagers because their first users were teenagers, so they assumed those forms like hatchlings imitating their mothers.

Mera has been friends with Gomu for ages, so she took on the form of a child to have a comfortable brotherhood with him. The same thing for their older siblings, apparently.

And then there’s Goro, who’s only a child to spite Gomu.

Huh? Maybe it  _ does _ have to do with maturity.

-

Okay, it definitely doesn’t represent maturity. Let’s redact the previous two paragraphs and pretend this chapter started from here.

Usopp is  _ seriously _ going to start randomly crying one day and then Chopper is going to hopelessly ask, “who bullied you,” to which Usopp will have to respond, “the freaky ghost child on the ship that no one else can see.”

Or rather, the freaky child thing that their enemies sometimes have. It’s very oftenly freakier than the enemy itself.

**_“So you are the rumoured human.”_ **

Hie is shorter than Usopp, but his presence is an enraged beast and so much more. Usopp can’t remember the last time a teenager stared up at him like trash under his feet.

White hair. A scarf. And long-sleeved Japanese clothes. And a scowl, of course. Hana is draped all over his arm. She obviously looks up to him.

The child himself is scowling. Like a permanent scowling face-- ah, he’s like an angrier and tinier Zoro.

**_“It’s been so long, Hie-sama!”_ **

“Hie-sama,” Usopp repeats, “he gets a ‘ _ sama _ ’?”

Everyone’s busy getting freaked out by Aokiji. Usopp is busy trying to figure out who, why, and how there are rumours of him within the devil fruit community. Does he want to know them? Probably not.

**_“There aren’t many humans that can sense us, much less see us, especially in Paradise,”_ ** Hie muses, looking over the boy and trying to figure him out--  **_“in fact, I am quite surprised. You have the power, but you’ve never quite put it to use or training just yet.”_ **

Usopp pauses at that. “Paradise?” he asks first,  _ power-- what power? _

Hie has his attention elsewhere. On Sanji, specifically.  **_“That one there seems to be stronger, yet,_ ** **you** **_are the one that can see us. How peculiar indeed.”_ **

Usopp’s hands are locked to the ground by ice. Everyone’s freaking out. Luffy is shouting. Usopp is absolutely intimidated by this not-child before him.

Hie stands an inch from his face, and he scoffs.

**_“You are unique,”_ ** Hie praises him.  **_“Even Kuzan can’t see me.”_ **

Usopp’s eyes widen, suddenly understanding something.

“There are other people that can see you,” he realizes, dread filling him. He’s not that special except for the fact that he’s from East Blue. “There are other people.”

Hie smiles, and this time, it curls with the poison of a witch.

**_“I have great expectations for you, Usopp,”_ ** Hie says, **_“what a shame.”_ **

-

“Who else,” Usopp closes the door behind him, coming face to face with Gomu and Hana on the kitchen table. “Who else can see you?”

Sanji swirls around where he is, takes in Usopp’s ragged appearance, and realizes he’s not the one being talked to.

“What’s the criteria? Why can I see you? Why am I unique?” he raises his voice ever so slightly with each question, the fear overtaking him and for the first time, ever-- he’s realizing just how dire it is, just how… how  _ crazy _ it is.

Hana inspects her nails.  **_“Who knows? Some people develop it later on. You’re the only one I’ve known that could always see from the start.”_ **

**_“Come to think of it, the Hawk-Eyes guy was looking at me funny at the Baratie,”_ ** Gomu hums, **_“don’t think he can see, though. Just sense us a bit.”_ **

Hito points upward. 

And Gomu reacts,  **_“yeah! Goro’s user could kinda sense us too!”_ **

“Why didn’t you guys tell me?!” Usopp snaps, and Sanji shoots back, ready to quell whatever quarrel was going on if it started attracting attention from outside. 

But what Usopp said next stopped him.

“Mihawk, of all people? And Enel?” Usopp says, “those guys have all been the scariest few we’ve met thus far! Where does that leave me, anyways?”

Gomu pouts,  **_“you didn’t ask!”_ ** he snaps, **_“and they can’t see us. Can’t touch us, either. They just vaguely know we’re there. Kinda like how you’re so paranoid of ghosts. You’re sensitive to them, but that’s it. You can’t see.”_ **

Usopp sits down on the table. “Ghosts exist? GHOSTS EXIST?!” now he’s having an existential crisis, “I’m not just being paranoid?!”

Hana sighs.  **_“There aren’t any that can see as well as you,”_ ** she pokes the boy in the eyes,  **_“they’re not anything to worry about. You’ll only meet more in the second half of the Grand Line, anyways.”_ **

That doesn’t reassure him at all.

**_“But Hie had a point, you know?”_ ** Gomu says, turning to Sanji.

Usopp follows his gaze, and Sanji now looks very confused and strangely uncomfortable. 

“He said something about Sanji.” Usopp considers that, turning to Gomu, “I mean, there was a time he almost kicked you. Does that mean he can sense you?”

**_“Not necessarily,”_ ** Gomu says, walking up to Sanji and snapping his fingers right before the blond’s face. Sanji doesn’t even flinch at the approach.  **_“See?”_ **

Hana opens her fan and turns away.

**_“I suppose something is obstructing his abilities,”_ ** Hana says. She glances at the boy, and for a moment, Usopp thinks the undertone is pity.  **_“...something biological, perhaps.”_ **

Usopp doesn’t really understand it.

-

Honestly? Usopp wants to cry a little.

After what happened with Hie, he just needs a little off-time with the saner spirits. 

**_“Gomu-chan! It’s been so long! Awh, you’ve grown since we last met!”_ **

Gomu right about blanches in disgust at the sight. Usopp has the pleasure of seeing a tiny little girl with cat ears bounce right up to him, twinkling with the eagerness and hidden maturity of a legal loli.

**_“We don’t grow, you kitten grandma,”_ ** Gomu growls at her.

The Neko-Neko no Mi, Model: Leopard is absolutely adorable. Small like Mane, just as bright, but much more mature. Like a mom or a very sweet older sister that’s smaller than you. She kinda reminds Usopp of Kaya.

Now if only Gomu would be a little less spicy about everything…

**_“I heard you’re with Hana-chan and Hito-chan,”_ ** she says, impressively unaffected by Gomu’s foul language. Usopp double takes at the ‘chan’s. **_“Have they been doing well?”_ **

**_“Stalker,”_ ** Gomu hisses.

**_“It’s rather lively with you guys, eh?”_ ** she reminisces, going off into wonderland in her head,  **_“I have Urufu-chan and Zou-chan with me, but it gets boring because we’re never together.”_ **

**_“It’s all animals over there,”_ ** Gomu raises an eyebrow.  **_“I saw Hie a while back. Mera and Mogu, too. It’s all Logia out there… have you guys been hoarding the Zoan fruits?”_ **

**_“Of course not!”_ ** the girl laughs it off despite the insinuation,  **_“whoever knows what the human government is thinking? They know that if they unleash us, all they get are casualties on the block.”_ **

Usopp listens to them with half an ear as the money-stealing and ship inspecting goes on. Gomu will probably be fine over there. They now sound like aunties trying to catch up.

**_“Oh, Usopp, let me introduce you,”_ ** Gomu turns to the boy, and Usopp turns around to tell him this isn’t the time. Gomu ignores him.  **_“This is everyone’s mother and yours too, or so we like to say. You can call her Reo. Or Mamareo if you want.”_ **

**_“I’m Mamareo, unfortunately not an oreo. Nice to meet you!”_ **

“That was absolutely NOT funny!” Usopp snaps. Then a second later, “wait! This isn’t the time! Can’t you see we have a crisis on our hands?! I’m going after the cash!”

-

-

-

Usopp is having a shitty day. 

A  _ very _ shitty day.

He’d rather not elaborate.

-

He puts his hand on Merry’s hull, laying his head against the wood. The worn, rough wood of the ship he loved with all his heart.

“Y’know, when I met Gomu for the first time, I really wanted to know what else I could see.”

He thinks back to the days they just fooled around, making a mess of the ship, when they first got the ship and it started becoming  _ theirs _ . 

The days that just won't ever be the same again.

“If fruits had spirits, then I just knew... It makes sense that you could have one too.”

He stifles a sob. He fails.

“You were always there with us, but no one could see you.  _ Not even me _ . But I could sense you. I knew you were there, Merry, I just--  _ they don’t understand _ .”

He punches the wood in frustration. 

“So y’know, when I saw you on Sky Island-- I was so happy. I was so happy, I thought you finally showed yourself to me. I thought I was finally good enough to see you. But you were never there again and-- and…”

He swears.

He’s so pathetic.

“I don’t want to give up on you, Merry. Please.”

-

He’s not the asshole. Luffy’s not the asshole. Franky isn’t the asshole either, it’s only his own fault for flaunting that much cash around. He wants dearly to say otherwise, but Galley-la were only doing their jobs. They’re not the assholes, either.

Everything just sucked.

Everything just sucked and no one’s at fault. No one is to blame. That’s just how the situation is-- shitty and hopeless.

Usopp spends most of his time patching up whatever he can of the Merry and screwing his fists so tight on the hammer they’re cramped and aching.

**_“You’re pretty gutsy.”_ **

Usopp’s hammer shatters the whole frame. He leaps back and screams. Hito stands beside him with an unamused eyebrow lifted. 

“You can talk?!” Usopp yells at him. “And wait, what are you doing here?” He looks around frantically. Gomu said they had to stay within the vicinity of their users. If Hito was here… Usopp instinctively shushed himself. “Is Chopper here?”

Hito smiles warmly at him. 

Hito’s never spoken before. Not to the other spirits, not even when prompted. He just made gestures and nodded where necessary, acted where he should.

Usopp isn’t in the greatest mental state right now. So when Usopp hears his voice, for the first time-- he feels the burn of tears in his eyes. He wipes it away and continues his work, grumbling something about how he has to start over now.

Someone, at least, is still on his side.

Hito doesn’t speak further, but Usopp manages to smile when Chopper and Sanji pretend to loudly not warn him about Aqua Laguna’s coming.

Now, if only he wasn’t such a coward.

-

Gomu comes to find him one day. Apparently, Luffy’s looking out to the horizon, so this little corner stall in the side of the far town is ‘within vicinity’.

**_“You’re an idiot, you know that, right?”_ ** Gomu says.

He had only watched the conflict, an unreadable expression in his eyes. Hito had looked away, and Hana wasn’t there. She was gone with Robin.

Gomu had watched him with understanding, but so much judgement.

**_“I do not care for the wars of humans,”_ ** he says,  **_“but I care for any war Luffy involves himself in. And I care for yours, too.”_ **

Usopp doesn’t know what to say. He stands by his own opinion. He doesn’t want to let go of Merry. But Gomu is here… saying he  _ cares _ ? That’s crazy talk.

**_“Why do you love the Merry so much?”_ ** Gomu asks.

And Usopp’s answer is still the same. From the moment he’d met Merry and even now, his answer has never and will never change.

“Because she’s a comrade, and I love her.”

Gomu smiles a little.

**_“I’m sure she loves you too.”_ **

It takes a moment for those words to sink in. And by then, Gomu is gone and Usopp feels the tears run down his cheek again.

-

When Usopp loses the Merry to the Aqua Laguna, when Usopp sees the crack in the keel, when Usopp is knocked back into his senses by Franky-- he loses it.

He knows already. 

He’s known from the start of this whole train wreck of a situation. He’s known since Arabasta, since Sky Island, that Merry… Merry wasn’t capable of sailing them to the harsher seas. 

She was born in East Blue, after all. The weakest sea.

But Merry’s alive. She’s  _ alive _ , as much as Gomu, Hito, and all of their friends are. They’re alive. Just because she’s weak doesn’t mean she’s any less something with emotions and a heart and a personality and  _ love _ .

(Maybe it’s because Usopp can see the spirits, that he felt so much more convinced that Merry was alive, too.)

The ship is his treasure. Just like how Wado Ichimonji is Zoro’s. They’re all friends on the same ship, though invisible to a few oblivious ones. They’re all comrades no one wants to leave behind.

(But Merry’s dying.)

(And nothing can change that.)

He takes up the Sogeking mask, and if a fake personality is what he needs to be a brave warrior of the seas-- then that is what he’ll do.

It’s embarrassing, but everything hurts less now.

-

-

**_“He’s mine,”_ ** Hana hisses,  **_“keep your filthy paws away from him.”_ **

Sogeking doesn’t know what to do with this situation.

There’s enough tension in reality, but Hana and Reo look like hate at first sight. Or second sight, or third, whatever. 

Hana stands before Usopp, her fan in her hand, her glare set firm and piercing. Reo has a claw out, her eyes in golden slits, and whiskers at her cheeks.

**_“You’ve sure gotten cheeky, little Hana,”_ ** she says, and all the cutesy demeanor she had with Gomu is gone.  **_“I thought I taught you better.”_ **

Sogeking doesn’t know how to feel about this.

**_“I’m sorry. I should've just stayed in the corner. I’m sorry.”_ **

Blueno is a little hard to fight. Mainly because his spirit is a little teenage-looking boy that can’t stop curling into the seats and praying the world wouldn’t converge on him.

He was pretty meek and quiet when they were confronted with the Merry, but once Hana showed up, he curled into himself and started crying.

Usopp almost wanted to just sit down there and sob too.  _ Because I know, buddy! I totally get you! _ But because he’s Sogeking right now, he’ll pretend he doesn’t see. Sogeking is not uncool enough to talk to invisible spirits in front of sane people.

Hana scoffs at the smaller one.

**_“You are cowardly as always,”_ ** and there’s Hana’s incredibly snide remarks, as usual,  **_“stand up straight!”_ **

The boy squeaks,  **_“I’m sorry!”_ ** He digs himself into the wall. 

**_“Stop apologizing already!”_ **

**_“I’m sorry!!”_ **

Usopp sighs. 

**_“Could you stop bullying him already?! You’re so uncute,”_ ** Reo scolds Hana.  **_“This is why you’ll never get a boyfriend!”_ **

**_“Be quiet, furball!”_ ** Hana blushes, and Usopp needs a moment. Spirits can have boyfriends?!?  **_“Besides, your Nikyu is a boring man!”_ **

**_“You take that back! You’re just jealous because Hie rejected you!”_ **

**_“He did NOT--”_ **

Doa then clambers over to Usopp (while apologizing) and uses him as a shield (while also apologizing.) He ends up in the center of a squeaking baby, an angry mother, and Hana’s yelling. It’s not very pleasant.

What even are they fighting about? Boyfriend Trouble? Seriously?

It’s even less pleasant when Blueno escapes, leaving them with nothing but absolute failure in their wake.

Usopp thinks it’s utterly frustrating how cheerful the animal fruit spirits are-- but he doesn’t let himself lose control.

Sogeking doesn’t let something like betrayal break him.

-

**_“Huh? Hito, look closer! That’s not Usopp!”_ **

Hito stares at the boy. Sogeking clears his throat, dripping with cold sweat. “I am the King of the Snipers, Sogeking!”

**_“See? He’s Sogeking!”_ **

Usopp honestly feels like he’ll disappoint Gomu, so he doesn’t correct him.

**_“He can’t see us!”_ ** Gomu declares, and Usopp immediately turns away to pretend he isn’t staring at them. He’s still dripping with cold sweat.

Hito sighs.

**_“This is so cool! I’m gonna ask Usopp to introduce us later!”_ ** Gomu sparkles.

This is painful to watch.

-

**_“Inu’uru, also known as Inu Wolf!”_ ** she poses like a cheerful net idol. She’s about as short as Reo, just with wolf ears and black hair instead.  **_“You can call me Urufu!”_ **

_ What is this miniature idol character? _

**_“But it might get confusing for the readers, so let’s just call me Wolf!”_ **

“Don’t break the fourth wall!” Usopp retorts immediately.

Usopp wonders what the CP9 would do if they ever find out how adorable their fruit spirits are. Especially Kaku. He looks like he hates his power.

**_“And this is Ushijira!”_ ** the wolfgirl points at the Chopper-sized thing beside her. It was tiny, wearing a long, giraffe-eared hoodie with sleeves that look like hooves. 

Ushijira is too cool a name for a baby. Gira’s fine, right?

“So a wolf and a giraffe, huh… which one of them has Robin’s key?” Usopp asks.

**_“That one!”_ ** Gira points cheerfully at his user.

Usopp stares at the scene for a second. Then he reached for the guy beside him, “uhm, Zoro-kun, Zoro-kun, I might have a _ very _ important piece of information…”

-

**_“You shitty cyborg piece of--”_ **

“OW!” Franky yells. He turns to his left. “WHO HIT ME?!”

Gomu’s standing there beside him, but he can’t see the kid. Sogeking gives Gomu a disapproving glance. Gomu makes faces at Franky.

**_“Hey, Hana! Don’t just watch!”_ ** Gomu says,  **_“this asshole made a whole mess of things, y’know! He stole all our money and Usopp got really sad.”_ **

**_“What?!”_ ** Hana responds explosively. She reaches for Franky’s cheek and pinches it,  **_“this ridiculous pervert? How dare--”_ **

Franky yelps again. Everyone stares at Franky like he’s grown another head. Sogeking looks away, slightly apologetic.

Sanji sends him a skeptical look.

Hito has his face in his palms.

-

**_“Sogepp, Sogepp, do you have candy?”_ **

Sogeking barely survives a fall from the top of the tower (Sanji and Zoro magnificently did not save him, the assholes) and finds himself in the company of a little whining child. 

“Why the hell are you still alive?!” Sanji squawks at him.

“Save me, dammit!” Sogeking snaps back, then turns to the kid beside him, “and no! I don’t have candy!”

Gira looks teary-eyed at the tone. 

Sanji blinks at him, turning to Kaku, then lets out an acknowledging hum. Zoro stares incredulously. “Who’re you talking to, Sogeking?”

Sogeking flusters, “no one! I’m uh! Communicating with the lost spirits of the tower and leading them home to their--”

He’s cut off by another explosion. The Navy ships are firing again, and they panic.

“We need to get out of here!” Sanji says, “get up, Hanaking!” 

“Wait, I can’t--!!”

“What a pain in the ass,” Sanji swears, “hey Marimo! Is there anything we can use as a stretcher?!”

And they fumble around for any large-enough cloth in the rubble to improvise with.

“Where are you going?” Gira asks, sucking on his thumb.

“Oh uh, do you know how to get to that side?” Sogeking turns to the infant, pointing towards the Gate of Justice.

To his surprise, Gira nods. **_“Blue-bunny and weird fish hair girl drew some arrows!”_ ** he says, gesticulating largely. Sogeking takes a moment to interpret that.

_ Weird fish-hair girl aside, blue bunny was probably Gonbe, right? _ So Chimney and Gonbe… probably Grandma Kokoro too.

“They left us some directions?” he says, surprised. He doesn’t notice Zoro and Sanji look over at his call. “Awesome! Where is it?”

Gira grins wide and toothy,  **_“over here!”_ ** then he starts walking.

“Ah, wait!” Sogeking tries to get up, but crumbles. Then he snaps to the two monsters, “hey, Sanji-kun, Zoro-kun! I know the way, hurry up!”

-

**_“Huh? Usopp? When did you get here?”_ **

“Oh, uh… just now.”

It’s impressive just how dumb yet smart Gomu is. He doesn’t connect the dots at all.

-

When they leap into the sea and onto their beloved Merry, he’s not the only one that can hear her. 

**_“I came to get you guys!”_ **

He talks to Sanji about it. But nothing-- there’s no one on the ship, and no one wants to show themself to him. 

Gomu and Hana and Hito won’t tell him anything, but their steely expressions spell anything but good news.

And it’s proven true when the boat splits in half, and Luffy’s heart-crushing decision is made. They have to say goodbye-- and this time, it’s for real.

Usopp-- no, Sogeking stands on the boat, watching the flames take her away. The tears don’t stop. He wants to break down, like Nami. But he can’t. He has to stand strong for Merry. There’s no one hurting more than Merry right now.

The water moves. 

Like footsteps, a small trail of water ripples lead in from the boat, coming closer, closer, closer.

Usopp sees it, and his heart sinks.

There-- standing on the water, a little before Luffy-- is a child in a sailor’s raincoat. She doesn’t have a face, but she’s little and blue, and her smile is unmistakable.

Usopp’s fist tightens. He swallows, and it's thick. It’s painful. His tears are making his voice sound grainy.

“Are you going?” he asks, and he notices how everyone stiffens just a little.

The spot Merry is standing on has water ripples that shouldn’t be there naturally--, and it catches attention from the other straw hats around. Their eyes widen-- but no one says anything. They don’t know what to say.

Merry smiles.  **_“I love you too,”_ ** she says. 

And Usopp cries harder.

**_“Goodnight.”_ **

She vanishes, wisping away into the sea.

“Yeah,” Usopp barely manages to choke up the words that follow. “Sweet dreams, Merry.”

-

There are a lot of beautiful ships in Galley-la, but he never sees something like that again. It was a feverish glimpse, and a feverish glimpse never becomes something more, no matter how much he wishes.

He stops walking.

**_“Hi, Usopp-san,”_ ** the little blue-haired girl says,  **_“did you happen to see a mosshead with no brain cells walk by here?”_ **

It’s a feverish glimpse. It’s just my imagination. I’m not seeing this. I’m not seeing this.

**_“Whatever then. You might want to go make up with your captain soon. Zoro’s pretty angry about it,”_ ** she warns him,  **_“Zoro’s all about honour and loyalty. You can’t half-ass your way through this one, okay?”_ **

And she vanishes. Oh thank god.

Usopp did  _ not _ just see a manifestation of Zoro’s sword. He did  _ not _ , okay? He’s imagining it. He is dreaming right now.

She's wearing white. So is she Ichimonji? But she's got blue hair, so maybe it’s Yubashiri… didn’t Yubashiri get broken, though? 

**_“No, you’re not imagining things.”_ **

He screams. When did Hana get here?!?

Hana huffs. Her hair is down, and her kimono is disheveled.  **_“You insolent fool. With you gone, who is going to do my hair? Who is going to tie my obi? How dare you leave without my permission!?”_ **

She whacks him with a fan, and Usopp curls up, “wait, Hana! I can explain!” Come to think of it, she wasn’t there to see the quarrel he had with Luffy. “I’m sorry! I’ll do your hair now, okay? Let’s go find a chair and a comb. Stop hitting me!”

Wait.

“What do you mean, I didn’t imagine it?” Usopp asks, “I mean, I did always feel something on his sword-- but even Zoro can feel something on his Kitetsu.”

**_“That was Ichimonji. Kitetsu is an asshole and you don’t want to meet him, trust me.”_ ** Hana tells him, begrudgingly sitting down on the beach steps and handing the man a comb.  **_“As for why you saw her, hell if I know.”_ **

Ichimonji? The little girl?

“She kinda looks like that Marine swordslady we met in Loguetown,” Usopp mentions. “Much younger, though. Do swords take any form like you guys, or is there a reason?”

**_“Swords are different,”_ ** Hana says,  **_“they tend to take the form of the Master they liked the most. Except Kitetsu, he hates everyone.”_ **

Usopp pales a little. Does that mean the sword belonged to that Marine? Or is it just a coincidence? Why is it the child form, though? 

(And Kitetsu’s his cursed sword, right? Oh man, I don’t want to meet him.)

**_“I want that braided bun you promised last time!”_ ** Hana suddenly jerks away from Usopp excitedly, making requests. **_“And flowers! You said I could!”_ **

Usopp sighs fondly, putting his hands on her shoulders so she would stay still. 

“Yes, yes…” 

Usopp doesn’t see Ichimonji again after that. Maybe it really  _ was _ just a feverish dream, and there was some strange reason he could see it just that one time. 

But that was beside the point.

She was right. Usopp had to fix things. For the first time in his entire life, he needed the courage, he needed the bravery.

He needed the humility to bow down and ask for forgiveness with all of his bare-faced sincerity… and Usopp didn’t have the balls to do that.

-

Anyways, it all worked out.

-

With a new ship and a full set of  _ nakama _ , the Strawhats set out from Water 7, back onto the sea of adventures.

When Usopp closes his eyes during his night watch, he shivers.

He can feel them. Presences that aren’t supposed to be there, walking about, adventuring. He just  _ knows _ something is there, something he can’t see… and they’re a whole community of friends invisible to the naked eye.

Gomu and Hito are still toasting to Usopp’s return, and Hana is enjoying her booze with just a little more grace. 

Maybe in another part of the ship, another party just like that is happening. Usopp just can’t see it, can’t hear it.

But he can feel it, and he’s not too sure if he should be scared by it.

He wonders if Zoro’s little Ichimonji is drinking too, accompanied by the soul of the Sunny and the spirit that weighs down Luffy’s precious straw hat.

-

Franky loves the ship, but god forbid, he really thinks it’s haunted.

He works in his workshop, undisturbed, and somehow, a whole box of bolts empties itself over his head. It was beside his hand, last he’d seen it.

Then his empty cola barrels all topple over his head. It brings a mallet with it, and if it wasn’t Franky that was down there, they’d be dead. Just as he thinks it’s over, a pipe uproots from under the scrap pile and sics him right in the face.

Oh, he’s had enough.

He joins Sanji for an early morning’s broody breakfast.

“What happened to you?” Sanji asks when the shipwright shows up in the galley black and blue and full of bumps. 

“I don’t know, but I think there’s a ghost at the bottom deck and they hate me,” Franky says, not at all thinking Sanji would believe him.

Sanji blows out a cloud of smoke, considering that.

Then, “yeah, that ought to happen,” he says, “I’ll deal with it.”

“Huh?”

“You bullied their favourite boy, so of course they’re pissed,” Sanji shrugs. “I guess it’s your just desserts, but they sure know how to hold a long grudge. I’ll try and tell them to stop, not sure if it’ll work though.”

Franky just looks  _ more _ confused. “Do you guys know something I don’t?”

Beside him, Robin chuckles, nursing her coffee. “Yes, we do.”

-

Usopp is sewing a tear in Gomu’s sleeve when Nami walks in.

“Usopp, I just wanted to ask about the Clima Tact…” she trails off.

It must’ve looked weird, with string floating in the air, Usopp holding needle and thread (he was a craftsman, Nami was the seamstress) and looping around nothingness.

Usopp freezes, and for a horrifying moment, he’s not sure what Nami makes of the situation. 

Then Nami groans. She puts down her Clima Tact, closes the door behind her, and picks up a piece of scrap cloth from the ground, along with a needle and thread.

“You don’t know how to sew, do you?” Nami accuses, and Usopp prepares to launch into story number fifteen of how he once sewed the seas shut-- but Nami brushes it off easily. “C’mon, I’ll show you. I can’t do it for you, but just follow what I do, okay?”

Maybe Nami can see just enough to know Usopp’s sloppy thread chaos on Gomu’s sleeve. But it’s still floating in the air, so sure enough, it’s weird, right? Right??

Usopp wants to cry. Who else in this ship knows about the spirits? 

Gomu smiles patiently, a look of almost adorable pride as Usopp quickly cuts away the messy thread, starting over with Nami’s slow instructions on how to mend it properly.

-

Chopper is scampering around the deck.

“What’s wrong, Chopper?” Usopp asks him. 

“Oh, Usopp!” Chopper stops to address him, “I misplaced my scissors somewhere… must have been when Luffy dragged me around to explore yesterday. Now I can’t find them!” he says. “Have you seen it around?”

Usopp hums. Chopper’s medical supplies are very important to him.

“No, I haven’t seen it around,” he says, and Chopper deflates further. “But gimme a second, okay?”

Usopp looks around the deck. Robin is on the lawn, sunbathing. Zoro is sleeping out back. Nami is watering the plants…

“Ah, Hito!” he hollers toward the galley, where the spirit was standing near the galley door. Chopper swirls around, looking around frantically for what Usopp was talking to. “Do you know where it is?”

Hito leans on the ledge, looking to the side a little, like he’s thinking. 

Then the spirit straightens, and hops down to the first floor, entering the library. Usopp beckons Chopper to follow him, and they enter the room.

Hito finds it placed in a very inconveniently hidden spot between some books, and Usopp promptly returns it to the little reindeer.

“There it is. Here you go, Chopper, don’t lose it again, okay?” Usopp pats the reindeer on the hat, then waves thankfully at Hito as the spirit excuses himself back to seawatching.

Chopper stares at it, awestruck.

“Usopp, are you magical?!”

Usopp lifts his chin a little. “Of course I am! Have I told you the story of the time I split the sky in half to save my friend that was captured by a UFO?”

-

Usopp is no longer hiding anything from his crewmates. He never had the need to, now that he thinks it through. 

They’re past the point of suspicions, and through the point of secrets.

Everyone on this ship sees the view in their own way. Usopp’s is just a little more crowded than theirs, and that’s nothing to be alarmed about.

**Author's Note:**

> aaaand that's it. I'd write more but I'm out of ideas for now. Hope you enjoyed this oneshot (maybe)! Love y'all!


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